READING BOOT CAMP is a FREE RTI reading program that uses best instructional practices with a proviso "ALL STUDENTS ARE GIFTED", the goal is to lift ALL students' ACADEMIC SKILLS using evidence-based Socratic methods, teach students as erudite beings, be flexible and have fun, set SMART goals, and differentiate through scaffolding and cooperative learning. RBC RTI has 13 years of proven results; the accelerated RTI program improves reading test scores by over a full grade level in 20 days.

Friday, February 26, 2016

Students SHOULD Independently Read The Grade Level STARR Reading Passages Cold Without Support.

Then Read The STAAR Test Passages with a Partner.

Read the STAAR passage again with their partners and do a Socratic Seminar Ranking Survey that includes annotating the 5 most important sentences that relate to the theme, main idea or topic.

They use the information gleaned from Close Reading to help them answer the STAAR reading comprehension questions with their reading partner.

They always annotate the passage or text with the corresponding number of the STAAR reading comprehension test question.

Students consult with the teacher and confirm that they have selected the correct answer. I use the mini-conference to examine their thought processes and get a quick formative evaluation of their ability and critical thinking.

When the two students have answered the question correctly and they have annotated text evidence that matches the answer they get a sticker or M&M'S.

STUDENTS READ THROUGH ALL READING TEST PASSAGES!

AFTER COMPLETING THE COMPLETE RELEADED TEST THEY MOVE ONTO THE TEST ONE GRADE ABOVE AND REPEAT THE CLOSE READING PROCESS.

Saturday, February 20, 2016

In Japan, education is compulsory at the elementary and lower secondary levels. Most students attend public

schools through the lower secondary level, but private education is popular at the upper secondary and university levels. Japan's education system played a central part in Japan's recovery and rapid economic growth in the decades following the end of World War II.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

To personalize learning and match each student with the right mix of instructional materials, teachers need to draw from a broad collection of differentiated resources. But where do these resources come from?

Traditionally, schools procured content from the giant, hegemonic textbook publishers. In the old business model, and even today, the textbook companies send reps to sell to school district curriculum adoption committees. It’s the same model that pharmaceuticals use to sell doctors drugs. Over time, this often evolves into a cozy relationship between the districts and publishers. Publishers often also sweeten their deals with additional resources, technology and services that may - or may not - be requested, then lock the districts up in 7-year, exclusive, static contracts.

What is wrong with this?

Teacher flexibility: To personalize learning, teachers need to have access to differentiated options to match to student needs. No single provider has the all the options a teacher would need to meet all student needs.

Student Equity: Large publishers design their products for a factory model of learning with one-size-fits-all curriculum to serve the middle of the bell curve for the most students leaving the accelerated, remedial, ESL and special needs students underserved.

Paying for stuff you don’t use: Schools are paying for content, services and technology they do not use. In any given class, a teacher may use but a small fraction of the “approved” curriculum. Instead, most teachers are opting to find their own solutions, spending precious time searching for current, engaging and relevant resources, rather than using the approved options.

School stuck with outdated or bad content because publishers have no incentive to improve quality: Once a multi-year contract is signed, the publishers have a reputation of vanishing. When publishers get their money up front, they have no financial incentive to continually improve their products. Again and again, I hear stories of teachers finding persistent typos and culturally offensive materials lingering year after year without correction or replacement.

What is the alternative? At Core Learning Exchange, we have created a new business model that promotes teachers’ choice, student equity, and rewards publishers for what teachers and students actually use. We create a level playing field where all providers - large publishers, curriculum development teams and independent teachers - compete to be selected by teachers for their classroom’s specific needs and interests. Publishers are rewarded (only) when their lesson is chosen and used.

We sell flat fee marketplace subscriptions that allow teachers to choose from an unlimited number of lessons, based solely on how well-matched the lessons are to individual students’ needs. Like “Spotifiy”, we redistribute subscription revenue back to content creators in proportion to the number of times a lesson is used. To promote student equity and provide equal access to high quality materials for all types of students, we incentivize publishers to serve niche needs by paying higher royalties. The smaller the niche, the higher the royalty.

When publishers are compensated only when their content is chosen from among equivalent offerings, it forces the them to be accountable for each lesson. The Market drives the competition that spurs innovation, and forces the publishers to continually monitor and improve their offerings so that theirlessons stand out as the best. Because Core-LX pays higher royalties for differentiated needs, publishers are motivated to seek out and serve smaller and more focused groups of students.

Now what makes more sense for your district? Continue to procure content the way we always have and live with the natural consequences of a monopoly? Or change to the model that provides the right incentives to support innovation at every level and rewards creators of the highest quality options for differentiated needs?

A fraction (from Latin: fractus, "broken") represents a part of a whole or, more generally, any number of equal parts. When spoken in everyday English, a fraction describes how many parts of a certain size there are, for example, one-half, eight-fifths, three-quarters. A common or simple fraction (examples: and 17/3) consists of an integer numerator, displayed above a line (or before a slash), and a non-zero integer denominator, displayed below (or after) that line. Numerators and denominators are also used in fractions that are not common, including compound fractions, complex fractions, and mixed numerals.

The numerator represents a number of equal parts, and the denominator, which cannot be zero, indicates how many of those parts make up a unit or a whole. For example, in the fraction 3/4, the numerator, 3, tells us that the fraction represents 3 equal parts, and the denominator, 4, tells us that 4 parts make up a whole. The picture to the right illustrates or 3/4 of a cake

[PDF]501 Math Word Problems - FreeGyan!
The book is organized in six sections: Miscellaneous Math, Fractions, ... Every problem in 501 Math Word Problems has a complete answer explanation.

[PDF]Fraction word problems - Primary Resources
Primary ResourcesFraction word problems. 1. There are 24 hours in a day and scientists tell us that we should sleep for 3/8 of the day. How much time should we spend sleeping?

[PDF]Fraction Word Problems - Thirteen
WNET#1. Jessica bought 8/9 of a pound of chocolates and ate. 1/3 of a pound. How much was left? Fraction Word Problems. #2. Tom bought a board that was 7/8 of a ...

[PDF]Bar Models – Percents and Fractions
West Contra Costa Unified School DistrictFeb 13, 2012 - Using Bar Models to Find the Fraction and Percent of a Number ...Have students create a word problem that could be solved using information ...

[PDF]Bar Modeling
Sep 9, 2015 - A Visual Approach to Word Problems. In Kindergarten and 1st grade,bar modeling is not explicitly taught, ... 2nd Grade students are introduced to model drawing to represent ... problems that involve fractions and proportional.

4th Grade • ELACC4RL9: Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures. ELACC4RI9: Integrate information from two texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.

Earth-Friendly Diet

There are many ways in which you can follow an earth friendly diet. Eat an organic vegetarian diet consisting of unprocessed natural foods. Farmer’s market, Cage-free eggs, non-genetically modified foods (GMO-Free) and locally grown organic produce have become a part of our diet and is a result of the sustainable food movement which is spreading around the world. We should be consuming local foods rather than import costly foods in terms of environmental costs.

On the next shopping trips try to carry a reusable jute bag or any other bags and this is how you are helping the planet to stay clean and safe. The United States uses 100 billion polyethylene grocery bags annually, which requires the use of 12 million barrels of oil for production and only 1% of the polyethylene grocery bags are recycled. Then what happens to the rest of the polyethylene grocery bags? They are either dumped into oceans, rivers or landfills and we all know that polyethylene grocery bags are non-biodegradable and many aquatic animals, which are endemic animals, die of starvation after they consume them. Try to avoid paper bags as they involve cutting down about 14 million trees annually.

We should always try to use the least amount of packaging for any of the products because most of the time we see that the packaging materials that are used are mainly made up of Styrofoam, which is a carcinogen, creates hazardous wastes and produces greenhouse gasses during production. These are unsustainable products and finally, end up in landfills, rivers and oceans.

Plastic bottles should also be avoided. Reusable water bottles should be used to drink water and this can lessen the amount of waste by a large percentage. Try to consume local tap water and you can even use filters to help purify it. If each citizen in the United States switched to reusable water bottles, we would keep 50 billion plastic bottles out of our landfills and oceans.

We should always try to eat foods that are grown locally. The food will be fresher and they contain more nutrients and vitamins than the foods that are shipped from hundreds of miles away or imported from other countries. Processed or preserved foods are not very healthy.

Eating more plant based produce than any other category of food will make a great positive impact for the earth. Producing one pound of wheat takes 25 gallons of water, one pound of beef uses 5,000 gallons of water. That is enough to float a battle ship!

The organic foods that are grown and processed through farming contribute to the biodiversity of our earth. They are used without using any of the chemical fertilizers and only green or organic manure are used for the production. The chemical fertilizers often seep into the soil and sterilize and kill all of the micro-organisms. The death of these useful micro-organisms creates soil that is anaerobic and lacking organic nutrients. Moreover, these fertilizers can pollute the water of rivers and oceans due to surface run-off. Additionally, the fertilizers can be harmful to us when we consume them.

Many healthy vegetables can be consumed raw and do not need to be cooked or boiled at all. This will save the power that would have been used for cooking. In China, food is first chopped into small pieces for quick preparation. This allows them to cook just as much food while using less energy.

Eating seasonal vegetables and fruits is beneficial for our health and our environment. You should look for foods that grow locally near you.

Another way to benefit the environment and our health is to grow our own food. Many community gardens are available where you will get your own area to grow vegetables and fruits that will be fresh, organic and healthy.

Happy healthy drug-free ice cream! Visions of happy cows eating grass in green pastures are a fantasy is the US. Milk production in the US can be a cruel and unhealthy process. Many of you may not know that dairy cows are injected with antibiotics and other artificial hormones to boost their milk production. These can be harmful to both human beings and cows. Also, they have major impacts on the environment. Moreover, dairy production on an industrial basis may at times transmit antibiotics and growth hormones that can be harmful. So we should always make our preference for the antibiotic-free and hormone-free products. Drug-free cows and free-range livestock are good for the environment and the kind and humane way to produce dairy foods.

The Sugar Diet: America’s Addiction to sugar

It is said that America has an addiction with sugar and high fructose corn sweeteners. In spite of the fact that sweeteners are in most of the products we eat, California was the first state to enact a tax on sugary drinks to curb America’s addiction.

17 percent of children and more than one-third of the people in America are obese.

In the last thirty years, the diagnoses of type 2 diabetes has increased 10 times its initial value.

Over $190 billion is spent annually by Americans on the treatment of diseases that are directly or indirectly related to obesity.

According to health professionals and health advocates, the main culprit is sugar. Though a number of other factors have contributed to obesity in the United States. Sugar is still the main ingredient that has caused major health issues.

Recently Berkley, California became the first US city in which the tax on sugary drinks has come into effect. Similar measures are also being debated in large cities like San Francisco and New York City. However, Americans do not like government putting restrictions on their diet as many are now addicted to the sugar. America’s addiction to sugar is associated with significant amounts of money for companies like Coca-Cola and Nestle.

America’s rate of consumption of carbonated beverages is greater than any other country. The super-sized beverages that are served to and consumed by Americans contribute largely to the increasing number of children with early onset diabetes. Elementary school children spend an average of 28 hours per week watching Television or playing video games on a Television.

Many products besides carbonated beverages have also led to the increased consumption of sugar. For example:

Roughly 120lbs of sugar are consumed by a typical American per year according to the journal from Clinical Nutrition. The consumption has increased by 50% since 1950.

The “war on fat” movement that Americans had waged in the 1970s was meant to curb the fat content of the food, but they failed on the part when they sprinkled some sugar in it.

More than 80% of canned or processed foods that Americans consume contains sugar from soy milk to whole wheat bread, and any of the food items that come in between them.

Britain is not too far behind….

Teens in Britain consume three times the recommended amount of sugar. That mainly accounts for 15.6% of their part of one day’s source of energy

One in four Brits are considered overweight or obese, which is almost two thirds of the population. Iceland and Malta are among the western European countries with the most obese individuals.

Among children aged 4-5 years, one out of five are overweight and one out of three children age 10-12 are obese.

Sugar is not a pocket-friendly product for the commoners:

Approximately $190 million are spent by Americans annually on the treatment of diseases that are linked to excessive weight gain, which is more than the net domestic product of New Zealand.

The American rate of obesity has doubled for adults and tripled for children since 1980.

Seven percent of Americans have type 2 diabetes.

From canned peaches to ketchups everything that the Americans consume contains sugar. Just as the people crave fat and salt, they crave sugar and it’s not an astonishing fact from a business perspective. According to a recent survey:

In spite of such staggering statistics people are not thinking about lowering their sugar consumption.

THESE PAIRED ARTICLES ARE FIRST DRAFTS AND NEED EDITING

Coral Reef Systems: The Great Barrier Reef

The world’s biggest coral reef system is The Great Barrier Reef which is located off the sea coast of Queensland in the Coral Sea, in Australia. It consists of 900 islands that extend for more than 2300 kilometers and there are more than 2900 individual coral reefs. It covers approximately 133,000 square miles. The Great Barrier Reef is the one and only structure that has been made by the living organisms and that can be seen far away from the outer space. The millions of tiny organisms known as the coral polyps have built this structure which supports a huge aquatic life system and has been recognized as one of the World Heritage Site in 1981. It was labelled as one of the seven natural wonders in the world by CNN. The Great Barrier Reef is the State Icon of Queensland as stated by the Queensland National Trust.

The Great Barrier Reef ecosystem also faces some natural impacts through climatic Changes, coral bleaching, run-off and the crown-of-thorns starfishes often break in, in cyclic proportions. The coral cover of the reef is lost more than by half since 1985 as shown in the reports published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2012. The area is protected from any kind of human activities like fishing and also the tourism is limited so that the natural structure does not get exploited.

The Great Barrier Reef has formed one of the cultural and spiritual aspects for the people who dwell in the Torres Strait Island for the Aboriginal Australians. It is a quite famous tourist spot that generates economic activities for the area and generates more than 3 million dollars per year.

Ecology of the Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the home to many endangered and vulnerable species which are even endemic to this coral Reef system. The Great Barrier Reef is home to the humpback whale, dwarf minke whale and the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin and many such other tiny species of porpoises, dolphins and whales. The reef system supports a large population of dugongs. Other than these there are several species of snapper, eighty-four species of spawns, red-throat emperor, coral trout, red bass, clownfish and forty nine species of the mass spawn. In the northern and the southern sections, up to 50 metres in the warm waters of the reef systems lives over seventeen species of sea snakes.

The species of sea turtles like the hawksbill turtle, leatherback sea turtle, Olive Ridley, flatback turtle, green sea turtle and loggerhead sea turtle come to the reef systems for breeding. The green sea turtles are divided genetically between the northern and the southern part of the reefs. There are fifteen species of seagrass grows in the seabed of the ocean like Halodule and Halophila that provides fish habitats and also attracts turtles and dugongs. The coast near the reef is home to many saltwater crocodiles which live in the salt marshes and the mangroves and also to a large species of skates, sharks, stingray and chimaera live on the reef system. Over 5000 species of mollusk have been found on the reefs which include cone snails, giant clam and various nudibranchs. Nine species of sea horses, seven species of frogs and over 50 species of pipefishes has been found in the Great Barriers. More than 215 species of birds migrate to the reefs each year and add to the diversity of the region.

Threats to the Great Barrier Reef

Ocean warming and elevated temperatures have resulted in coral bleaching which has become an annual occurrence now. They are becoming susceptible to diseases that results in ecological effects for the communities in the coral reefs. The declining water quality and pollution in the water as also contributed largely to the death of many species of organism. The loss of coastal wetland has also snatched away many habitats of the organisms.

Coral Reef Systems: The Great Barrier Reef

The world’s biggest coral reef system is The Great Barrier Reef which is located off the sea coast of Queensland in the Coral Sea, in Australia. It consists of 900 islands that extend for more than 2300 kilometres and there are more than 2900 individual coral reefs. It covers approximately 133,000 square miles. The Great Barrier Reef is the one and only structure that has been made by the living organisms and that can be seen far away from the outer space. The millions of tiny organisms known as the coral polyps have built this structure which supports a huge aquatic life system and has been recognised as one of the World Heritage Site in 1981. It was labelled as one of the seven natural wonders in the world by CNN. The Great Barrier Reef is the State Icon of Queensland as stated by the Queensland National Trust.

The Great Barrier Reef ecosystem also faces some natural impacts through climatic Changes, coral bleaching, run-off and the crown-of-thorns starfishes often break in, in cyclic proportions. The coral cover of the reef is lost more than by half since 1985 as shown in the reports published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2012. The area is protected from any kind of human activities like fishing and also the tourism is limited so that the natural structure does not get exploited.

The Great Barrier Reef has formed one of the cultural and spiritual aspects for the people who dwell in the Torres Strait Island for the Aboriginal Australians. It is a quite famous tourist spot that generates economic activities for the area and generates more than 3 million dollars per year.

Ecology of the Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the home to many endangered and vulnerable species which are even endemic to this coral Reef system. The Great Barrier Reef is home to the humpback whale, dwarf minke whale and the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin and many such other tiny species of porpoises, dolphins and whales. The reef system supports a large population of dugongs. Other than these there are several species of snapper, eighty-four species of spawns, red-throat emperor, coral trout, red bass, clownfish and forty nine species of the mass spawn. In the northern and the southern sections, up to 50 metres in the warm waters of the reef systems lives over seventeen species of sea snakes.

The species of sea turtles like the hawksbill turtle, leatherback sea turtle, Olive Ridley, flatback turtle, green sea turtle and loggerhead sea turtle come to the reef systems for breeding. The green sea turtles are divided genetically between the northern and the southern part of the reefs. There are fifteen species of seagrass grows in the seabed of the ocean like Halodule and Halophila that provides fish habitats and also attracts turtles and dugongs. The coast near the reef is home to many saltwater crocodiles which live in the salt marshes and the mangroves and also to a large species of skates, sharks, stingray and chimaera live on the reef system. Over 5000 species of mollusc have been found on the reefs which include cone snails, giant clam and various nudibranchs. Nine species of sea horses, seven species of frogs and over 50 species of pipefishes has been found in the Great Barriers. More than 215 species of birds migrate to the reefs each year and add to the diversity of the region.

Threats to the Great Barrier Reef

Ocean warming and elevated temperatures have resulted in coral bleaching which has become an annual occurrence now. They are becoming susceptible to diseases that results in ecological effects for the communities in the coral reefs. The declining water quality and pollution in the water as also contributed largely to the death of many species of organism. The loss of coastal wetland has also snatched away many habitats of the organisms.

Spider-Man

Spider-Man is a comic book superhero who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Spider-Man is the biggest superhero in the Marvel Universe. He is the most loved Marvel superhero. Spider-Man was created by the famous Stan Lee along with Steve Ditko. Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker, a teenager who is an orphan. He lives with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May who love him as he was their son. Peter was not always Spider-Man. Prior to the accident that made him Spider-Man; Peter Parker led a normal life just like any other teenager. His world completely changes when a radioactive spider bites him and that gives him his powers. He gains agility, strength and ability to climb walls and ceilings. He tries to capitalize his new powers and enters a television program wearing a costume, as “Spider-Man”. One day he ignores to stop a thief who is fleeing and ironically, that thief later kills his uncle Ben. It is then that Peter Parker acknowledges the fact that great power bestows greater responsibility on a person.

Spider-Man is the first teenage superhero who is not a sidekick of a bigger one like Robin, Super boy or Wonder Girl. Despite his superpowers, Peter Parker struggles with his daily life. He has to help his widowed aunt pay rent and is also taunted by his friends. But Peter is a humble child and has a good heart. Also, he is a very good student and his intellect is often said to be genius level.

Powers of Spider-Man:

1. Enhanced physiology: After the spider bit Peter Parker, his physiology changed completely. His metabolism has increased greatly. Also, the composition of his skeleton, tissues, muscles and his nervous system has all been highly enhanced. Originally peter had to wear glasses, but after the spider bite, his vision was perfect. He could see perfectly without any glasses. Also, he got an enhanced healing factor as a power.

2. Wall-crawling: Spider-Man is capable of crawling walls and ceilings. He can stick to any surface with his hand, feet and his back.

3. Enhanced strength, agility and durability: Spider-Man is frequently said to have the proportional strength of a spider. Spider-Man can leap several stories vertically or the width of a city street. Spider-Man's agility and reflexes are far more exemplary than those compared to an ordinary human. Spider-Man has the ability to maintain balance in any form of a platform that he can stick to.

4. Spider-Sense: Spider-Man's sense of tingling at the base of his skull, symbolizing him to personal danger in relation to the proximity of that danger.

Being a science geek with great intellect, Peter Parker himself constructs many devices that complement his powers. The most notable tech is his mechanical web-shooters. This mechanism produces an extraordinary adhesive, generating web-fluid in various shapes and types, including a single rope-like strand to swing from, a net to tie up enemies, and a simple mesh of web to foul machinery or blind an opponent. He can also design the web material into forms such as spherical guard or hemispherical barrier, or a shield or a hang-glider wing. Other equipment includes spider-tracer which is a spider-shaped adhesive homing device.

Archenemies of Spider-Man are:

1. Doctor Octopus: He is considered to be spider-man's archenemy. It has been clearly implied that Peter could turn out to be like him if he was evil and irresponsible. He is just the opposite of Peter Parker in many ways. His character is of great significance as he is known to have defeated spider-man the first time they confronted.

2. Norman Osborn: This character is also depicted as Spider-man's nemesis and goes by the villainous identity of Green Goblin. He is responsible for attempting to kill spider-man's girlfriend, being involved in the murder of Peter’s Aunt May and some other heroes.

3. Venom: This character is also graded as Spider-Man’s archenemy. Venom's ulterior motive is to destroy Spider-Man's life and get in his head to mess with his thoughts. The fact that he is almost unbeatable is because he has very few weaknesses.

Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman is a superhero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. The character is a warrior princess of the Amazons, a land where no men are allowed (based on the Amazons of Greek mythology). She is known by the secret identity Diana Prince. She has a wide range of superpowers and has superior combat and battle skills. She has a variety of weapons, namely the Lasso of Truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets, a tiara which serves as a boomerang and occasionally a shield. She is one of the founding members the famous Justice League, an organization of superheroes which often work together to fight bigger and fiercer villain/villains.

Wonder Woman is a warrior. She is a highly compassionate ambassador. She refers to the rest of earth as “Man’s World”. Her humanity, her feeling of compassion and her giving love without discrimination is a great character of hers. In the beginning, Wonder Woman is shown to be having an aversion towards men due to her Amazonian upbringing. But this changes slowly with time as she resides in the world outside Amazons. A distinctive element of her characterization is a group of signature mythological motifs including Great Aphrodite, Great Hera and so on.

The powers of Wonder Woman are:

1. Superhuman strength. She is the strongest female heroine of all female characters in the DC Comics Universe. She can also heal very fast because she has been portrayed as a Demigoddess.

2. Speed, agility, durability, endurance and great reflexes are also her special abilities. She can react quickly enough to deflect bullets, lasers, and other projectiles with her virtually impenetrable bracelets.

3. She can fly.

4. She is a specialist in hand to hand combat. She is also blessed with great wisdom, intelligence, and military prowess.

Wonder Woman uses some special equipment like:

1. Her bulletproof bracelets: These were formed from the remnants of Athena's legendary shield, the Aegis. These bracelets are indestructible and are able to absorb the impact of any incoming attacks. She can strike the bracelets together which will then give rise to force that can literally cause concussion and cause one to bleed from his ears.

2. The Lasso: This weapon symbolises truth and is known to have been forged by Hephaestus. It’s known to force the truth out of everyone who comesin contact with it. Diana keeps the lasso with her all the time and knows to use it as a whip as well..

3. Tiara: It is utilised as a throwing weapon with a razor sharp edge, which acts very much in the same manner as a boomerang. The Tiara allows Wonder Woman to be immune from telepathic charges. It gives Diana permission to establish telepathic contact. It is depicted that the red ruby centered on her Tiara has telepathic power.

Wonder Woman has an array of enemies. But there are some of them, who have grown to be her major competent. Some of them are:

1. Cheetah: She is regarded as the greatest archenemy of Wonder Woman. Cheetah is a she-villain who rose to overshadow Wonder Woman and end her forever.

2. Ares: He is the Greek God of War. He is the Biggest Amazonian adversary of Wonder Woman. Like Cheetah, Ares has been a very frequent rival of Wonder Woman.

3. Doctor Psycho: He is presented as an adversary of Wonder Woman. He is able to harness supernatural energies. He has consistently been portrayed as suffering from mental illness (ranging from possessiveness to full-blown insanity), possessing a diminutive stature, and harbouring a misogynistic hatred of women.

4. Giganta: Giganta is Dr. Doris Zeul. She suffers from a fatal blood disease. So she captivates Wonder Woman wanting to put her "life-essence" into Wonder Woman's body using a machine of her own. She is interrupted by Wonder Girl halfway through the experiment and thus ends up with her consciousness in a gorilla named Giganta. She has the ability to enlarge her size. Thus, becoming a formidable opponent.

There are many ways in which you can follow an earth friendly diet. Eat an organic vegetarian diet consisting of unprocessed natural foods. Farmer’s market, Cage-free eggs, non-genetically modified foods (GMO-Free) and locally grown organic produce have become a part of our diet and is a result of the sustainable food movement which is spreading around the world. We should be consuming local foods rather than import costly foods in terms of environmental costs.

On the next shopping trips try to carry a reusable jute bag or any other bags and this is how you are helping the planet to stay clean and safe. The United States uses 100 billion polyethene grocery bags annually for whose production almost 12 million barrels of oil is consumed and only 1% of the polyethene grocery bags are recycled. Then what happens to the rest of the polyethene grocery bags? They are either dumped into oceans, rivers or landfills and we all know that polyethene grocery bags are non-biodegradable and many aquatic animals who are endemic animals die out of starvation and after they consume these poisonous polyethene grocery bags. Try to avoid paper bags as they involve cutting down about 14 million trees annually.

We should always try to use the least amount of packaging for any of the products because most of the time we see that the packaging materials that are used are mainly made up of Styrofoam which is a carcinogen, creates hazardous wastes and produces greenhouse gasses. These are unsustainable products and finally, end up in landfills, rivers and oceans.

Plastic bottles should also be avoided. Reusable water bottles should be used to drink water and this can lessen the amount of waste by a large percentage. Try to drink tap water directly because packed locally available water bottles provide none other than tap waters. Try to use filters to drink pure water.

We should always try to eat foods that are grown locally. The food will be fresher, and they can retain more amount of nutrients than the foods that are imported from other countries and that are shipped and need to be kept in cans for a long period of time. Processed or preserved foods are not very healthy.

Eating more produce than any other category of food will make a great positive impact for the earth.

The organic foods that are grown and processed through farming contribute to the biodiversity of our earth. They are used without using any of the chemical fertilizers and only green or organic manure are used for the production. The chemical fertilizers often sip into the soil and cause infertility, death of the useful micro-organism who makes the soil fertile by making them loose internally and help in internal ploughing. Moreover. these fertilizers can pollute the water of rivers and oceans due to surface run-off. Moreover, the fertilisers can be harmful to us when we consume them.

The vegetables that are good to eat raw for our health can be easily gulped down without boiling them unnecessarily. This will save the power that would have been used for cooking.

The vegetables and fruits which are seasonal are very good for our health and moreover local purchasing would be quite beneficial for our environment. You should look for foods that grow locally nearby you.

Another healthy process of saving our environment is to grow our own food. Many community gardens are available where you will get your own area to grow your own vegetables and fruits that will be fresh, organic and healthy.

Happy healthy drug-free ice cream! Visions of happy cows eating grass in green pastures are a fantasy is the US. Milk production in the US can be a cruel and unhealthy process. Many of you may not know that dairy cows are injected with antibiotics and other artificial hormones to boost their milk production. These can be harmful to both human beings and cows. Also, they have major impacts on the environment. Moreover, dairy production on an industrial basis may at times transmit antibiotics and GHG that can be harmful. So we should always make our preference for the antibiotic-free and hormone-free products. Drug-free cows and free-range livestock are good for the environment and the kind and humane way to produce dairy foods.

The Sugar Diet: America’s Addiction to sugar

It is said that America has a love affair with sugar in spite of the fact that in California United states’ first tax on sugary drinks has gone into effect.

17 percent of children and more than one-third of the people in America are obese.

In the last thirty years, the diagnoses of type 2 diabetes has increased 10 times its initial value.

Over $190bn is spent by the Americans’ annually on the treatment of diseases that are directly or indirectly related to obesity.

According to policymakers and health advocates, the main culprit is sugar though other than it a number of reasons have contributed to peoples’ worry in United States but still sugar is the main ingredient that has caused major health issues in most of the peoples’ life.

Recently in Berkley, situated in California became the first US city in which the tax on sugary drinks has come into effect. Similar measures are also being debated in large cities like San Francisco and New York City. But Americans do not like that the government puts any restriction on their diet and it is very obvious that the Americans will not decrease their sugar consumption. America’s addiction to sugar is associated with significant amounts of money being made on addiction. Britain is also not very far from this race in sugar consumption.

On earth, America’s rate of consumption of Frizzy drinks is greater than any other country. The super-sized soda bottles that the Americans consume contribute largely in increasing the number of diabetes patients and other diseases.

Not only the Frizzy drinks but also many other products has also led to the increased consumption of sugar for example:

Roughly about 120lbs of sugar is consumed by a typical American per year according to the journal from Clinical Nutrition. The consumption has increased by 50% since 1950.

The “war on fat” movement that the Americans had waged in 1970s, was seriously on the issue that they will curb down the fat content of the food, but they failed on the part when they sprinkled some sugar in it.

More than 80% of the food that are canned or processed that the Americans’ consume contains sugar from soy milk to whole wheat bread, and any of the food items that come in between them.

Britain is not too far behind….

The amount of sugar that are recommended for the teens in Britain, they consume 3 times more amount of sugar in their food that mainly accounts for 15.6% of their part of one day’s source of energy

One in four Brits are considered as overweight or obese which is almost two third of the population per unit area. Iceland and Malta are among the western European countries in which have the maximum amount of obese individuals.

Amongst the children aged 4-5 years, one out of five children are overweight and among the age group10-12 one out of three children are obese.

Sugar consumption is not at all pocket-friendly product for the commoners:

Approximately $190 million are spent by the Americans annually on the treatment of diseases that are linked to excessive weight gain which is more that the net domestic product of entire New Zealand.

Amongst the Americans the rate of obesity, since 1980, has doubled among the adults and among the children it has tripled.

Type 2 diabetes has become common disease amongst seven percent of the Americans.

From canned peaches to ketchups everything that the Americans consume contains sugar. Just as the people crave for fat and salt, they crave for sugar and it’s not astonishing fact from the perspective of business. According to a recent survey:

Milk chocolates like Hershey syrups and bar contain 23gm of sugar

Jam Doughnut contains 8gm of sugar

Coca-Cola contains 35gm of sugar

Ice cream (vanilla) / Cornetto contains 22gm of sugar.

In spite of such staggering statistics people are not thinking about curbing their sugar consumption.

Captain James Cook Mini Biography

James Cook is one of the most renowned explorers and navigators that the world has ever seen, and according to many has done more to fill the unknown spots on the map of the world than anyone else in history has. He is famous for having discovered the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of New Zealand and Australia on his ship Endeavor, while also disapproving the existence of the fabled southern supercontinent, Terra Australis. He also provided the most detailed and accurate map of the Pacific through his many voyages.

James Cook was born on October 27, 1728, to a Scottish farmhand in Marton-in-Cleveland, Yorkshire, England. Cook worked as a farmhand alongside his father as he grew up, and had the first real exposure to the life on sea when he turned 18. Cook received an offer for apprenticeship from a Quaker ship-owner in Whitby, England when he came of age. This apprenticeship proved to be a life changing experience for Cook, and he developed intimate relation with the ships and the sea.

The apprenticeship with the Quaker ship-owner was just a beginning to a long and eventful career on the high seas. James Cook dreamt of joining the British Navy, and this desire eventually led him to joining the same a few years later. He showed great skill and fortitude during his life in the navy, and this resulted in Cook being promoted to the rank of ship’s master by the time he was 29 years of age.

James Cook shone in his role as a ship’s master in the British Navy, and this became even more apparent during the Seven Years War, which lasted from 1756 to 1763. During the war, Cook served the Royal Navy by commanding a captured ship with great success. However, his real claim to fame lay far away from the hustle and bustle of naval warfare, in the field of exploration to the far edges of the known world during the latter half of the eighteenth century.

James Cook was chosen to command the first scientific expedition to ever head for the Pacific Ocean. This was a monumental endeavor because of the limited knowledge in hand during those times regarding the geography of the region. Cook’s ship was aptly named HMS Endeavor to reflect upon the mammoth efforts made by the captain and crew to extend the horizon of knowledge regarding the world.

James Cook discovered and charted New Zealand in 1770 on his ship the HMS Endeavor, and this was in addition to the discovery and exploration of the Great Barrier Reef of the coast of Australia. The Great Barrier Reef was an incredible feat because of the fact that its infamy as one of the most dangerous areas to navigate for any ship.

James Cook returned to England after having completed his scientific expedition. However, he was soon chosen for a mission to circumnavigate and explore the Antarctica. On this voyage, Captain Cook charted a number of islands that exist in the Pacific such as Tonga, Easter Island, New Caledonia, the South Sandwich Islands, and South Georgia. Apart from that, he also disapproved the existence of the mythical southern supercontinent, Terra Australis.

James Cook also made valuable contribution towards improving the health condition of sailors while on long expeditions by trying to control scurvy, which is caused by vitamin efficiency, and was a huge problem for sailors. He sought to do so by feeding his crew a meal consisting of watercress, sauerkraut, and orange extract.

James Cook met his demise while fighting a skirmish with the islanders of Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii, during a winter layover on February 14, 1779.

Questions

James Cook is famous as a –

Explorer and pirate

Explorer and navigator

Admiral and navigator

Which among the following is not a famous achievement of James Cook?

Discovering New Zealand

Discovering and charting the Great Barrier Reef

Discovering Antarctica

Under whom James Cook did do his first apprenticeship?

A naval officer

His father, a farmhand

A Quaker ship-owner

What role did James Cook play as a naval officer during the Seven Years War?

He was the admiral of the Royal Navy

He commanded a captured ship for the Royal navy

He took no part in the war

Where did James Cook head during his first scientific mission and on which ship?

The Atlantic, HMS Excalibur

The North Sea, HMS Enterprise

The Pacific, HMS Endeavor

What is the name of the fabled southern supercontinent whose existence James Cook refuted through his explorations?

Leif Erikson holds the distinction of being the very first European voyager and explorer to have set his feet upon the land in the New World. In fact, the Norse voyagers were the first Europeans to have pioneered establishments on the mainland in North America, quite contrary to the generally held view of Christopher Columbus of holding that distinction. Leif Erikson was among descendants of the first generation of Nordic voyagers who had settled down in Greenland, and were ready to explore even further. In fact, Leif Erikson holds the distinction of pioneering the Nordic settlement of Vinland, which was present in the present-day Labrador and Newfoundland communities in Canada. Leif Erikson was also an important figure in the spread of Christianity in Greenland.

Leif Erikson was born to the famous Nordic explorer from Norway, Erik Thordvalsson, or more popularly Erik the Red, in Iceland in 970 AD. However, his father migrated to Greenland with his family in 986 AD. It was during the stay in that country that Erik discovered two Norse colonies, which were the Eastern and the Western settlements. Erik the Red named those two colonies according to the traditional beliefs as the Landnama and the Eiriks Saga Rauda respectively. It was while in Greenland that Leif reached his adulthood, and decided to marry quite early as an adult. The woman Leif married, by the name of Thorgunna, was a resident of Greenland but of Icelandic origin. The couple went on to have a child, a boy by the name of Thorkell Leifson.

Leif resided in Greenland with his family for a number of years, but then decided to settle down in Norway. Upon arriving in Norway, Leif decided to convert to Christianity like many of the other Norsemen of the time, with the blessings of the Norwegian sovereign, King Olaf I. His conversion was something that his father did not approve of, but his mother was quite supportive of the decision, and she converted and went on to found a new church. Next, Leif decided to return to Greenland, and purchased a ship called Bjarni Herjolfsson from a local merchant. He boarded the ship with 35 other men that he had recruited for the voyage, and used the ship for exploring the western boundaries of Canada and Greenland. Moreover, in the year 1003, Leif led the Saga of the Greenlanders. This saga happened to coincide with the route followed by the Bjarni towards the Northern coastal areas.

During the voyage, Leif Erikson and his crew of 35 men made a number of landfalls on different islands that dot the coast of Canada. The first island that Leif came across was the Helluland or the Land of the Stones that was nothing but an island covered with solid rock formations. Next, Leif renamed as Baffin Island the Land of the Stones before he made his following landfall. Finally, Leif and his crew reached the island of Markland or the present-day Labrador Island, and then left it to make landfall at Leifsbudir. This name literally means Leif’s Storage Houses in the Icelandic tongue, and Leif’s crew suggested this name after discovering that they had indeed reached their hometown.

Later on, Leif returned to Greenland upon the orders of King Olaf I to spread Christianity among the islanders, and stayed at the remote town of Brattahild with his father Erik. The general consensus is that Leif breathed his last somewhere around 1020, and his family slipped into oblivion thence on. However, he has made a return into the popular culture with the discovery of the fact that Leif had discovered a Norse settlement along Newfoundland, with the name of Le Anse Aux Meadows. Since 1964, the US Congress has proclaimed October 9 as the Leif Erikson Day.

Questions

Why is the name Leif Erikson so special?

Because he was the first mate of Christopher Columbus during the maiden voyage to the New World

Because he was the first recorded European to set feet upon the New World

Because he was the first Nordic person to embrace Christianity

Leif Erikson was the pioneer of the Nordic settlement known as –

Markland

Vinland

Newfoundland

Leif Erikson was born in 970 AD. in –

Norway

Iceland

Greenland

Leif Erikson’s decision to convert to Christianity was –

Under the patronage of King Olaf I of Norway

Chided by his father but supported by his mother

Both

The ship Leif Erikson used for his voyages was –

The royal vessel Bjarni Herjolfsson

Bjarni Herjolfsson that was bought from a local merchant

Part of the expedition led by his father, Erik the Red

What was the name given by Leif Erikson to the Land of Stones?

Helluland

Baffin Island

Markland

October 9 has been proclaimed as the Leif Erikson Day in the United States of America by the –

The Dyslexic Reading Teacher Sean Taylor

Literacy for me was almost an unrealized unattainable dream! As a dyslexic learner I was unable to read, write, or decode words as a child, p,d,b and q were all the same letter. The written word was a collection of cuneiform squiggles that swam around on the page. I was identified dyslexic at age 9 and later dysgraphic. I spent the next 6 years in special education programs (limbō) trying to learn to read and write. The special education programs never acknowledged my creative capabilities, coping skills and shame and humiliation of being illiterate, they focused on "curing" my learning disabilities with under-trained teachers! Many classroom teachers assumed I would never read or write due to the severity of my dyslexia and this made me feel worthless. I eventually learned to read all words by sight the same method as learning Chinese. I am a dyslexic reading teacher that has built a reputation for finding innovative ways to teach reading and critical thinking to all students! ALL children are gifted and can learn to read! Sean Taylor M.Ed.

Contact us @ seansart@hotmail.com

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